crossover steering

[manyholes]

hey guys, whats your input on crossover steering kits on the market for our D60's?
i know off road design has a kit and so does NWFabworks. Any input on the construction/quality of the kits?? i seen that a few people got the ord kit and were happy but nwf is cheaper, looks just as good sooo..?? thanks for the feedback

[ahale2772]

Ive never done one but ive been told the steering box can be moved to the holes for a 2wd box and then with a different pitman arm and a link for the right steering knuckle you have crossover steering...the frames will be stressed the wrong way though so a brace needs to be made or box the inside of the frame.

dont know how well the crossover bar would fit on a truck thats not lifted though

[BILTIT]

I had the NWFab kit on my old chevy, was great quality, fit and finish, etc. I would use theirs again, just check on delivery time before ordering. I had to wait along time to get all the parts from them.

[IowaCummins]

I have to do this soon. My drag link only has 35k on it and its shot. The geometry is just wrong. And I'm sick of the bracket flexing and breaking.

[manyholes]

im going to be putting a 4" on my truck right away so thats why i was looking at crossover steering, im rubbing my draglink right now, i know i have to change the box output shaft to a 2wd one, ill box the frame with some plate, probably 1/4 or 3/8", this truck will play a bit in the bush but mostly a tow rig for the boat and remote camping

[BILTIT]

Could try one of these, i have one but havent installed it yet.

http://www.dodgeconnection.com/catalog/ ... 541374.htm

[Mieser]

I did a crossover steering conversion on my truck. Hands down the best modification thus far. It made the truck feel 10 years newer....



I made most of the parts myself. My front spring are just a leveling spring the the previous owner built with stock main leaves. Parts I used....

-Borgsen steering shaft
-Moved the factory steering box to the 2wd position on the frame
-The 4wd power steering lines will work just fine with a slight angle readjustment at the fittings.
-Jeep WJ pitman arm, alignment keys removed, retapered to fit a GM TRE
-GM 3/4 ton GM TRE LH
-Custom double threaded adjuster to allow the steering wheel to be centered ( poly performance offers something similar and more compact )
-1.25" solid drag link
-TRE adapter on the other end of the drag link.
-GM 3/4 ton GM TRE LH
-Custom built 1.5" tall 6" center to center steering arm

I had to but a simple bend in the drag link to get everything to clear at full compression.

[Fred_M1010]

I did a crossover steering conversion on my truck. Hands down the best modification thus far. It made the truck feel 10 years newer....

That's a great write-up of stuff needed for crossover.
Could you please explain more in detail in what way it improved the steering?
And do you mean on- or off-road handling?
And what was your setup before?

I've done crossover on my K30, but I did it mainly to be able to steer under heavy flex.
But I got really crappy handling on the road as a trade off.
Probably mostly due to the super soft springs and pretty long shackles,
that makes the axle move sideways before the wheels starts turning...
So I'm contemplating building a panhard bar for it now...
and that's a little tricky to do without it affecting the flex too much...

[Fred_M1010]

-GM 3/4 ton GM TRE LH

BTW be aware that stock Chevy tie rod ends can't handle as much angle as needed in a drag link,
but some offroad companys offer them in special versions that handles more angle.

[Mieser]

I did a crossover steering conversion on my truck. Hands down the best modification thus far. It made the truck feel 10 years newer....

That's a great write-up of stuff needed for crossover.
Could you please explain more in detail in what way it improved the steering?
And do you mean on- or off-road handling?
And what was your setup before?

I've done crossover on my K30, but I did it mainly to be able to steer under heavy flex.
But I got really crappy handling on the road as a trade off.
Probably mostly due to the super soft springs and pretty long shackles,
that makes the axle move sideways before the wheels starts turning...
So I'm contemplating building a panhard bar for it now...
and that's a little tricky to do without it affecting the flex too much...

My steering basically went from a death trap two handed white knuckled ride....to a two finger braindead driveable ride.

My big tires also rubbed on the stock pitman arm when turning right. That went away, and now I can turn lock to lock without any rubbing, even with 38s. I even have an inch or two left over if I want to turn the stops in and mill out the axle ears a bit.

My setup before was the stock setup. My large tires accelerated the wear on the frame bracket a lot, I ripped the stock bracket off 3 times! With my leveling springs in front, with stock steering, I lost steering angle capability.

In your other post you mentioned GM TREs. With the system I built the TRE's see almost no angle. My truck isn't a flex monster so the limited angle capacity was not an issue. The TREs I used where also very compact compared to the higher angle capable ones.

I also didn't have to trim anything on my truck. The crossmember under the engine is completely stock and I have had no contact to date. I spent hour and hour measuring pitman arms till I found the ideal one. The WJ pitman arm works out perfect since the TRE end is perfectly level with the bottom of the threads on the sector shaft. This makes for the maximum amount of clearance without getting the TRE too high causing clearance problems for the drag link. I then designed and built the steering arm at 6" center to center and 1.5" tall to allow the drag link to clear the engine crossmember. I also changed the ratio between the steering arm and pitman arm so that lock to lock steering is now 3.5 turns instead of 4.X. This makes the truck feel tighter, yet doesn't take away too much steering force. It also leaves a little bit extra for more steering angle at the knuckle if you want to use it.

[Fred_M1010]

Ok, yeah I can see that i could be worth it just to be rid of the steering box bracket.
I just don't think crossover is the solution for everyone, but in your case I fully understand it.

I really like how you sectioned your fenders btw
I'm looking through your build thread now

I've been thinking of doing something similar with my dodge.

[Fred_M1010]

And it's good to see I'm not the only one that's cheap enough to make my own steering arm

But speaking of steering arms and DLEs, I think you should check out your maximum DLE angle just in case.
I saw you didn't take the kingpin incination axis into consideration when you made your arm,
and that sets the DLE at 10degrees already when the drag link is horizontal,

[Mieser]

My drag link slopes down from the steering arm to the vehicle centerline. This gives me the clearance needed under the engine cross member.
I fully cycled and compressed the steering system for the travel available on the front end. I still have a few extra inches down and up before the TRE's start to bind. For me using the GM TRE's was just a packaging thing. I could have used on on the steering arm fairly easy, but it would have been very hard on the pitman arm side to get the adjuster to fit.

[BILTIT]

hey guys, whats your input on crossover steering kits on the market for our D60's?
i know off road design has a kit and so does NWFabworks. Any input on the construction/quality of the kits?? i seen that a few people got the ord kit and were happy but nwf is cheaper, looks just as good sooo..?? thanks for the feedback

I have the NWFab kit on order, will update once i have it installed.

[manyholes]

good luck on your nwf kit. im still waiting on my knuckle studs, kit looks good, be carefull about high steer kit, im having some issues with mine that me and nwf are working on